


Sketchbooks and The Promise of Cake

by DallasWinston



Category: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: before canon, how johnny met pony, how pony met johnny, pre-book
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 07:13:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30018060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DallasWinston/pseuds/DallasWinston
Summary: How Pony met Johnny.
Relationships: Johnny Cade & Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade/Ponyboy Curtis
Kudos: 13





	Sketchbooks and The Promise of Cake

Pony had always liked to draw.

He was teased for it a lot, mostly jokingly, by the gang. It was a kids thing, meant for crayons and sheets of crappy paper and to be hung on the fridge. It was soft, not tough, and he hated that he enjoyed it.

But he saved up his allowance, and he bought a small sketchbook off that crappy store next to the movie theater, and he wrote, and drew, and pretended he was okay.

He usually didn't bring it to school, cause he would be laughed out of class, or probably even worse if a group of Socs got to him first. It was flowers and sunsets inside that thing, and it wasn't how a Greaser was supposed to be.

But he had it in his pocket as he walked to school, and he had walked nearly halfway before realizing it, and it was too late to turn back now. So he sighed and kept his head down and kept walking, hoping he’d make it in time without any Socs.

He did, barely though, slipping into the classroom and sitting down just as the bell rang. The teacher glared sternly at him, but she couldn't say anything, he wasn't late. He kept his head down still, eyes on his desk as she looked at him for a moment before starting the class.

He allowed himself to look up a bit, and around. The classroom was small, with around fifteen or so kids packed inside. Pony forced himself to look up at the board, but someone caught his eye.

You could tell he was trying not to be noticed, but Pony felt drawn to him. He was wearing a grey shirt, and a jean jacket that was a little too big on him, the sleeves covered his hands a little. He was keeping his head down as well, and Pony noted his black, well-greased hair that fell over his forehead and curled a little at the nape of his neck.

Pony stared for what he realized was an uncanny amount of time, wanting to draw this kid so badly. He wondered vaguely why he had never seen him around before, not at rumbles or anything. 

“Mr. Curtis, are you paying attention?”

The voice pulled Pony out of his thoughts, and he could feel his cheeks heating as his head snapped to look at the teacher. She was looking at him angrily, and Pony could feel his ears getting red as well.

“N-no Ma’am, I’m sorry..”

She huffed, turning to the board again.

Pony tried to focus, but his eyes kept drifting over to him, and he wanted to draw him..maybe just a rough sketch, he could fill in the details later…

Slowly, keeping his eyes on the board, he pulled the sketchbook out of his pocket. Holding it in his lap, he roughly sketched out the kid, the expression, the way he kept his head down and eyes on the desk, the exact way his hair fell.

He was getting too into it, too detailed to be doing in class. He was adding too much to the jawline, the way his nose turned up a bit, the way his jacket was a little long, a little beat up.

“Ponyboy Curtis!”

Pony’s head snapped up, and for some reason, the other boys did too. He seemed startled at the yelling, and Pony noted how he leaned back a little bit, as if he was gonna get hit.

“Are you listening to me, young man?”

Pony shook his head.

“One more strike, Ponyboy, and you’ll be heading down to the principal's office, you got that?”

Pony nodded.

“Speak, Ponyboy.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She kept her eyes on him for a minute, and Pony brought his eyes down at his desk again, slipping the sketchbook into his pocket.

Class ended soon enough, Pony had spent an incredibly long time drawing, he realized. He hoped the teacher wouldn't call home, Darry would be pissed.

Pony stood up, grabbing his books and keeping his head down, walking out of school as fast as he could.

He had barely made it out of the classroom when he banged into someone, knocking the books out of his hands, and the other persons too.

“Shit-Im so sorry-” he bent down, still keeping his head down, hoping it wasn't a Soc, or else he was in for it.

“No, Im sorry, it was my fault..”

The quiet voice surprised him, and he looked up to see the kid from his class. Blushing madly, he gathered his books as quickly as he could, and then helped the kid stack his own.

“Thanks,” he said softly, and Pony nodded.

“Listen, im sorry-”

“Grease!” A nearby Soc hissed, slapping Pony on the head from behind before exaggeratedly wiping his hands on his pants.

Pony sighed, and Johnny just stayed still, the crowd swarmed around them.

“Well, listen, I gotta get to class..”

The other kid nodded, and Pony was about to walk off, before he said quietly;

“What's your name?”

Pony sighed a little, he hated this question. “Ponyboy.”

Johnny smiled, and Pony admired how it lit up his face a little, made him look younger.

“Really? That's awesome. My name's Johnny.”

“Nice to meet you, Johnny.” 

Johnny smiled, picking his books up and disappearing into the crowd.

*  
Pony was halfway home before he realized he didn't have his notebook, and he panicked, trying to retrace his steps. He knew that kid, Johnny must have picked it up, but shit, what if he looked inside, what if he saw-

“Ponyboy?” he heard a voice call, and he spun around to see Johnny, running after him.

Skidding to a stop beside him, he handed Pony the notebook. “This is yours, right? I must've accidentally picked it up..”

Pony grinned, taking it. “Yeah, thanks.”

They started walking again, silent, cause they didn't know what to say, but they were going the same way.

“You didn't...look inside, did you?” Pony finally said, turning to Johnny.

Johnny blushed. “Just-just the last page, I didn't know what it was. I'm really sorry, Ponyboy.”

Shit.

“Nah, it's fine.”

It was silent again.

“You made me look real handsome, Ponyboy, think you exaggerated a little there.”

Pony shook his head, smiling. “Naw, I just drew it how I saw it.”

A small smile crept onto Johnny's face.

“Hey,” Pony looked up at Johnny. “You wanna come to my house? Darry-my brother-made some real good cake last night, and we could do homework or something…”

Johnny grinned, full-on grinned at Pony. “Sure, I’d like that.”


End file.
